Locally-made fantasy drama “Sleep” headed the Korean box office charts for the third successive weekend. But theaters were comatose ahead of bigger new releases timed for the Chuseok holiday season.<\/p>\n
“Sleep” earned just $1.06 million between Friday and Sunday, with a 27.5% market share, according to data from Kobis the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council. Its cumulative after 19 days in cinemas now stands at $9.50 million.<\/p>\n
The film’s three weekends at the top of the chart have coincided with low power competition and a month-long decline in cinema attendance. The nationwide box office aggregate for the latest weekend was worth just $3.85 million. That was the quietest box office weekend of 2023.<\/p>\n
Korean comedy drama “Marrying the Mafia Returns” released on Thursday and took second place. Over its opening four days it managed $684,000, with $523,000 of that over the weekend proper.<\/p>\n
Hollywood import, “Gran Turismo” also revved slowly. It opened on Wednesday and earned $585,000 over its opening five days, with $413,000 between Friday and Sunday.<\/p>\n
“Oppenheimer,” which had been one of the few standouts of a weakening August-September period, held on to fourth place with $258,000 in its sixth weekend of release. Its cumulative is now $25.3 million – the tenth best score of the year to date.<\/p>\n
“A Haunting in Venice,” in its second weekend, earned $215,000. Since releasing on Sept. 13, it has accumulated $1.41 million.<\/p>\n
French animation title “Epic Tails” (aka “Argonuts”) released on Thursday and earned $191,000 over the weekend, and $264,000 over its opening our days.<\/p>\n
Korean-produced “Honeysweet” took $121,000 over the weekend, extending its cumulative since Aug. 15 to $9.99 million.<\/p>\n
Japanese animation, “The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes” took $110,000 for a cumulative of $478,000 after two weekends of release.<\/p>\n
“Dr Cheon and the Lost Talisman,” doing previews ahead of a Wednesday release, sneaked into ninth place with $98,000 from just 16 screens. Its pre-release total now stands at $145,000.<\/p>\n
“Concrete Utopia,” a disaster action film that is also Korea’s Oscar contender, took $85,000 over the weekend. Its cumulative since Aug. 9, is $28.0 million.<\/p>\n
More firepower is expected to be brought to Korean cinemas over the next two weeks, aiming to take advantage of the multi-day and extended Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok) holidays. “Dr Cheon” will be opened wider and in terms of pre-sales looks to be the winner.<\/p>\n
Competition will come from: patriotic period sports drama “Boston 1947,” from hit-making director Kang Je-gyu; “Cobweb” a 1980s-set film within a film from Kim Jee-woon; and imported horror title “The Nun II.” <\/p>\n
The following week will see releases of Korean rom-com “30 Days” and Gareth Edwards AI action adventure film “The Creator.”<\/p>\n